Vasily Dzhugashvili
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Vasily Iosifovich Dzhugashvili (Russian Василий Иосифович Джугашвили), known also as Vasily Stalin (Russian Василий Иосифович Сталин), March 21, 1921 – March 19, 1962, was the son of Joseph Stalin and of his second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva.
As a schoolboy, Dzhugashvili distinguished himself only for his pranks; his school marks were very poor (having mostly grades of 3 or 4 in the five grade Russian system). The death of his mother represented a major change in his life. Practically starting from this moment, Joseph Stalin ceased to visit his children. Only the nursemaid and head of the dictator’s security guards looked after Vasily and his sister, Svetlana. One officer, Sergei Efimov, was charged with continuously looking after the two children. After a short time, Stalin received not only the Efimov’s surveillance reports, but also Vasily’s “reports”, in which the dictator’s son justified his own pranks or informed on his supervisors. When Vasily was 17, he expressed his wish to join the Kacinsc Aviation School, well known in the whole Soviet Union. Lavrenti Beria’s intercession was necessary, because of Vasily's poor school grades. At the beginning, Vasily Stalin was given special treatment (single-room, meals in the officers’ mess, weekly leave permissions), but his father personally intervened and Vasily lost all the privileges.
Vasily started his active military service in the 16th Aviation Division in Moscow. However he spent more time using the sports facilities than with his military unit. Here he met Galina Burdonskaia, his future wife. They married when Vasily was 19.
As an officer of the Red Army, Vasily received rapid promotion. At the beginning of World War II, he was Inspector of Air Forces in the General Staff. In December 1941, he was a Major and after a couple of months was promoted Colonel. At the end of the war he was a General, Commander of an Air Division. He was noted for plundering the “freed” areas, especially in Nazi Germany. At the end of the war, he flew back in Soviet Union with a plane stacked with stolen goods: gold, diamonds, carpets, furs, and fine lingerie.
He was promoted to Major-General in 1946, to Lieutenant-General in 1947, and to Commander of the Air Force in the Moscow Military District in 1948. However he was dismissed as a result of an aviation incident during a military parade on July 27, 1952.
After the death of his father, a long period of troubles began for Vasily. He was arrested on April 28, 1953, because he revealed top-secret information during a dinner-party with foreign diplomats. He was charged with denigration of the Soviet Union's leaders, anti-Soviet propaganda and criminal negligence. The judicial investigation was conducted by one of the most brutal prosecutors, Lev Vladzimirskii. During the investigation, no pressure was put on Vasily, but he confessed to guilt of all the charges, even the most fantastical ones. However, shortly afterwards, in December 1953, the prosecutor and his boss, Lavrenty Beria, were executed as a result of a power struggle between Stalin's successors.
Vasily Stalin asked the new Soviet leaders, Khrushchev and Malenkov, for clemency but he was considered a dangerous person and he was judged in a behind-closed-doors trial and was not allowed legal representation. He was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment and disciplinary work period. He was imprisoned under a changed name, Vasily Pavlovich Vasilyev, in the special penitentiary of Vladimir. He was released from prison on January 11, 1960. The CC of CPSU decided to give him a pension, financial compensation of 30,000 rubles, a three room flat in Moscow, and a three month treatment vacation in Kislovodsk. He was also granted permission to wear his general's uniform and all his military medals.
Vasily Stalin hoped to receive an official pardon, but that never happened. His problems with alcohol grew worse during this period. On April 9, 1960, he asked Kliment Voroshilov for reappointment to active military service. Irritated by a delay in conceding to his requests, Vasily went to the Chinese Consulate on April 15th and applied for a medical visa. Relations between the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China were very tense at the time, and the Supreme Soviet decided on April 16th to place Vasily under house arrest in Kazan and to deprive him of all privileges. Vasily Stalin died on March 19, 1962, due to chronic alcoholism.
Vasily Stalin was partially rehabilitated in 1999, when the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court lifted charges of anti-Soviet propaganda that dated from 1953. His body was re-buried in a Moscow cemetery in 2002.
